Two former Parramatta Eels players are accused of harbouring semi-automatic weapons and possessing more than half-a-million dollars in cash after dramatic arrests in Sydney's Centennial Park yesterday.

Action needed on Vic environment: report

More buses, a congestion tax and changes to the way Victorians protect themselves from bushfires are among 34 recommendations from a damning environmental scorecard.

The State of the Environment report, tabled in parliament on Thursday, found Victoria's annual emissions are continuing to increase, average temperatures have risen and weather has become more extreme.

Environmental sustainability commissioner and report author Kate Auty said the recommendations were necessary.

"They are strategic and needed for the health of our ecosystems and the continued wellbeing of our community," Professor Auty said.

She called for a number of changes to get people out of cars and onto public transport, particularly buses.

These included expanding the SmartBus system and considering congestion taxes for the inner city in peak travel times.

Citing Australian Bureau of Statistics data, the report found about a third of people who don't use public transport say it's not available to them.

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The 10 local government areas on Melbourne's fringe were in the bottom third of councils with access to public transport.

Calling for a tax on road use, the report said the burden of personal cars, such as road maintenance, was shouldered by the community.

"Pricing road use can both reflect the burden that private vehicle use places on the environment and society and provide an upfront inducement not to drive," the report said.

It also highlighted concerns about the way the government managed bushfire risks.

It described controlled burn targets recommended by the Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission as "too blunt an instrument" to reduce risk and protect ecosystems.

Following the 2009 Black Saturday fires, successive state governments adopted the call to burn an average of five per cent of public land annually to reduce bushfire fuel.

The report says these should be abandoned in favour of a risk-based system.

"It is possible that the target will not provide the level of protection assumed by the public and it is ecologically inappropriate for many ecosystems, leading to substantial damage to biodiversity and ecosystem functions," it said.